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Thursday, October 30, 2014

Redeeming Christian Holy Days: All Saints' Eve and Day

All Saints' Eve, All Saints' Day:
Origins and Samhain-ization

Today it seems that everyone knows that Halloween is originally a
Celtic pagan holy day named Samhain [pr. Sow-in] which the Christian
Church supplanted for the sake of forcing pagans to convert to
Christianity. Obviously, in this line of thought, Christianity has
nothing of it self to offer and must co-opt, adopt, adapt, and use
non-Christian sources for the sake of gaining converts from the world
outside of Christianity.

A read through the Old Testament will show that the people of God
have many times adopted religious practices and celebrations from the
pagan nations around them: Sometimes in an effort to gain peace with
those nations, sometimes to attract members, sometimes so they could
fit in better with surrounding nations, sometimes in outright
rebellion to God. The Acts of the Apostles, their Epistles, and the
book of Revelation also show various ways that the Church adopted the
cultural and religious practices of the pagans around them. The
writings of the early Church Fathers contain many, many documents
against the adoption of pagan practices and writings against those
false teachers who adopted aspects of pagan worship and faith.

So,
it is not like it would be unusual for the Church to do something
like stealing a pagan holy day, claim it for its own, and use this to
attract those outside the Church (pagans) by making them feel more
comfortable—or by coercion. Both have happened.

Some might wonder what the point is of trying to establish which
came first: pagan or Christian. Indeed, one website described this
kind of effort as a “pissing match” to establish who's holy day
is older. That attitude misses the point of doing the history. The
issue is that Neo-Pagans and Wiccans, in an effort to discredit
Christianity have made many assertions about the history of these
holy days that are patently false. Most of their claims are based on
an intellectual heritage that comes through the Folklorists of the
19th and early 20th centuries—which itself
was deeply influenced by the wealth of philosophy, arts, and
literature from the Romantic movement (particularly Gothic fiction).

When one looks at individual claims about the supposed antiquity
of the Neo-Pagan/Wiccan holy day of Samhain one finds the actual
historical evidence lacking.

Of course, then some claim “absence of evidence is not evidence
of absence.” This is supposed to prove that since we are not able
to find any evidence of the observation of Samhain before the 9th
century, and since lack of evidence cant prove something wasn't there; the whole line of research is fallacious—NeoPagans/Wiccans
therefore have the upper-hand and win! Too bad, poor Christians!

Actually their claims must be tested by evidence, not just ours.
If one were to claim that NASA put a man on Mars long before the
Framers signed the Constitution, most people know just enough of
history to begin to question such a ludicrous claim.[footnote 1]

So, for example, the Neo-Pagan claims “Samhain was celebrated on
October 31st by the Druids all over Europe before
Christianity came.” Then there are some specifics that can be
examined: what kind of calendar did the Celts use? Does it have a
date called “Samhain”? Was it actually a single date, or a
prolonged season/time/festival/fast? If it was a single date does
that date equate to October 31? Is that before or after the
Gregorian calendar reforms? How is Samhain described in the earliest
literature? When was that? How did it change over time? Are there
records of suppression of this holy day?

On the other hand: if one were to assert: “All Saints' Day came
from non-Celtic regions, was known in the East and West, and was
moved to November 1st long before there were any
explicitly pagan ideas associated with Samhain.” Again there are
specifics one can examine. All along the same lines of inquiry
outlined just previously.

This article is an effort to gather together resources on the
origin and historical development of All Saints' Day, the evening
before which is called All Saints' Eve, or Halloween. I have tried
to online versions of these resources to make it easier for the
reader to go through the original documents. But many of the
resources are in print editions only. The information is presented as
a chronologically arranged annotated/narrated bibliography on the
subjects of Samhain and All Saints' Day.

Since so many people today believe that the origin of All Saints'
Day and Halloween are to be found in the Celtic festival of Samhain
we consider it first.

Documentary History of Samhain

The ancient Celtic calendars that we actually have and know about
are luni-solar. That is, the months were lunar months tied to the
phases of the moon, and that an extra batch of days was added at the
end or in other places to tidy up with the solar year. Because the
calendar was based on the phases of the moon the claim that October
31 must be historic Samhain is patently false.

Samhain as Part of the Ancient Celtic Calendar-A.D. 2nd
Century

The oldest fairly complete ancient Celtic calendar we have that
includes a mention of something like Samhain is the Colingy Calendar.
The Colingy Calendar was found at Colingy, Ain, France
in 1887 and is now held at the Gallo-Roman Museum in Lyon, France.

The Calendar itself is dated to the late 2nd century AD on the
basis of its linguistic features.

The wikipedia article on the Colingy Calendar has a good
bibliography for extended research. You can see the calendar and how
Archaeologists, Historians, and Linguists have worked to interpret
the text at the Roman Britain Organisation's website by Kevan White,
as well as at John Bonsing's website.

Some of the things learned from this Celtic calendar are pointed
out by Kevan White;

1. “The Celtic month started at the full-moon, rather
than the new-moon, probably because the full-moon is easier to
observe and record. Each month alternately contained 29 or 30 days,
making a Celtic year 354 days in length.

2. “The calendar took into account the differing time
periods taken by the moon and the sun to circle the earth (prevalent
geocentric terminology used), and reconciled the differences by
inserting an extra month on a regular cycle. This method of
intercalation meant that most years contained twelve months, and
approximately every third year contained thirteen months. This extra
month was called Mid Samonios, and was intercalated between Cutios
and Giamonios in the calendar.

3. “The month was divided into two parts, a 'light'
half, and a 'dark' half, each approximately of two week's duration;
the division marked by the word Atenoux 'returning night' on the
Coligny fragments. This confirms that the new-moon also played a part
in the Celtic calendar, and very likely had some religious
significance. This also bears-out the impression we get from the
traditional Celtic folk-stories which maintain that the normal period
of Celtic timekeeping was the fortnight.”

Both White and Bonsing have done calendar calculations attempting
to synchronize this ancient Celtic calendar with our current system.
A very important point to note is that for the years worked out AD 24
to AD 54 the first day of Samhain never occurred on October 31. It
occurred on November 1 only once in that span of years in AD 38.

Also, there is no mention of or description of any calendrical
festival cycle that would in any way compare to the Neo-Pagan and
modern Wiccan “Wheel of the Year”.

See also the bibliography on the Colingy Calendar at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coligny_calendar

Finally, there is no explicit mention of a holiday called Samhain
in this calendar. No such holiday is mentioned until 1,000 years
later.

Now, we must admit, we can not claim that this one calendar
actually represents a uniform practice of all the different areas
where Celts lived. They may, as was in ancient Greece, have had
different calendars for each area. In which case, we can not say for
certain anything about a pan-celtic or even local practice until such
evidence can be found.

Medieval Celtic References to Samhain

Welsh King Hywel Dda (Hywel the Good)
reigned 880 AD to 950 AD. The earliest copies of laws attributed to
his rule are from 1285 AD. In this calendar the “calends of winter”
= Samhain is used to fix an end to an economic activity. No festival
is mentioned. Of course, King Hywel Dda lived in a time after the
festival of All Saints' Day had been introduced to the British Isles.
The manuscript comes from well after the November 1st date had been
established in the region.

The earliest manuscript is from the 15th or 16th century
A.D. Some scholars conjecture that the story may go back to the 10th
or 8th century AD. But there is no manuscript evidence for this. In
any event, this is after the Christianization of Ireland and after
the celebration of All Saints' Day had been introduced in that land.
In this document the word Samhain is understood to mean “the end of
summer.” While this document describes druids working ritual at
Beltane, there is nothing mentioned of ritual at Samhain. Even if the
story goes back to the 10th century this is still after the festival
of All Saints' Day had been established on November 1st in the
region.

Serglige Con Culainn (“The Sick-Bed of Cú
Chulainn”), written maybe the 10th or 11th century A.D.

Also known as Oenét Emire (“The Only Jealousy of
Emer:) is a narrative from the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. This
is the oldest reference from the medieval period and it comes from a
12th century AD manuscript. Note that this is well after All Saints'
Day is established on November 1st in the region.

This text mentions a festival in connection with Samhain:

“EVERY year the men of Ulster were accustomed to hold
festival together; and the time when they held it was for three days
before Samhain, the Summer-End, and for three days after that day,
and upon Samhain itself. And the time that is spoken of is that when
the men of Ulster were in the Plain of Murthemne, and there they used
to keep that festival every year; nor was there an thing in the world
that they would do at that time except sports, and marketings, and
splendours, and pomps, and feasting and eating; and it is from that
custom of theirs that the Festival of the Samhain has descended, that
is now held throughout the whole of Ireland.”

Samhain in the Early Folklorists-16th Century and
Later

Seathrún Céitinn, known in English as Geoffrey
Keating, c1569-c1644
Irish Roman Catholic priest, poet and historian from County
Tipperary
Keating wrote what looks like an observation of folk customs:

“there the Fire of Tlachtgha was instituted, at which
it was their custom to assemble and bring together the druids of
Ireland on the eve of Samhain to offer sacrifice to all the gods. It
was at that fire they used to burn their victims; and it was of
obligation under penalty of fine to quench the fires of Ireland on
that night, and the men of Ireland were forbidden to kindle fires
except from that fire; and for each fire that was kindled from it in
Ireland the king of Munster received a tax of a screaball, or
three-pence, since the land on which Tlachtgha is belongs to the part
of Munster given to Meath.” (p. 247)

Keating's account of the Feast of Tara and his treatment of
Samhain has been found to be creative anachronistic fiction by
Daniel. Binchy pp 129-130 of his 1958 'The Fair of Tailtu and the
Feast of Tara', Eriu, 18:113-38.

Rhys, John 1840-1915
First Professor of Celtic at Oxford University.
Citing Keating and his experience in contemporary folklore was the
first to suggest that Samhain was the 'Celtic' new year celebration.

1886 Lectures on the origin and growth
of religion as illustrated by Celtic heathendom (1892 ed)

1981 Early Irish Myths and Sagas.
London: Penguin Books picks up Keating's story and conjectures about
a possible ancient mythological nature of Samhain.

MacCana, Proinsias

1970 Celtic Mythology. New York:
Hamlyn, bases some mythological conclusions on the same discredited
evidence.

[Hutton, Stations of the Sun, 361f, 508]

Frazer, James 1854-1941
Scottish social anthropologist very influential in the early
stages of the modern studies of folklore, mythology and
comparative religion, especially with respect to his 1890
publication, The Golden Bough.

Frazer was the first to suggest that Samhain was an ancient
pan-Celtic festival of the dead that had been taken over by the
Church.

Frazer's comparative religion and folklore research methods and
analytical methods have been largely discredited today.

At this point we are up to the 20th century and there is no real
credible evidence that Samhain was any kind of ancient pan-Celtic
festival of the dead, or that it was a new years celebration, or that
it was even a fixed festival.

Documented Origins of All Saints' Day

Earliest record of an annual commemoration of martyrs.

The earliest surviving record of an annual commemoration of a
saint or saints dates to the 2nd century A.D. There is no reference
to any pagan festival. The purpose of the day is to remember the
testimony to faith in Christ that the saints gave with their lives
and deaths. Polycarp's martyrdom ties together both Rome and Smyrna
on the southwestern edge of modern Turkey.

The documentary evidence laid out below demonstrates that the
practice of a day dedicated to All Saints originates in non-Celtic
regions well before documentary evidence of a festival of Samhain
begins, and that this festival is established on November 1st
without any reference to pagan practices relating specifically to
Samhain.

Through the persecutions of the early centuries so many
Christians were killed because of their faith, that churches in
different areas began setting aside a particular day of the church
year dedicated to All the Saints and Martyrs.

Gregory Thaumaturgus before AD 270
of Neo-Caesarea a city in Tokat Province, Turkey.

Canon 51 established that the annual
commemoration of Saints' days (their nativities) that take place
during Lent should be held on the Sabbath or Sunday following so
that they can be commemorated with the full Liturgy rather than with
the partial liturgies that were prescribed for weekdays in
Lent.NPNF2-14: p. 156
[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.viii.vii.iii.lvi.html]

St. Basil of Caesarea AD 379 a city in Central Anatolia,
Turkey.

Also noted in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Basil chose a
day when the churches of his bishopric would honor the memories of
all Saints known, and unknown, alive or in heaven. We are looking for
the reference.

The Reference typically given is to his 74th Homily,
or his Homily for the First Sunday after Pentecost. In this
referenced sermon Chrysostom wrote that a festival of All Saints was
observed on the first Sunday after Pentecost in Constantinople during
his episcopate.

See especially;

2006 John Chrysostom: The Cult of
the Saints: Select Homilies and Letters. Introduced, translated
and annotated by Wendy Mayer and Bronwen NielSt Vladimir's Seminary
Press

[This book is helpful in understanding how important and
widespread in the Church the commemoration of the martyred Saints had
become at such an early date.]

Canons 60-61 prescribed that Christians should not celebrate
Greek feasts or go to improper entertainments or the games at the
circus, especially if those celebrations coincided with the memorial
of a Martyr, a Sunday, or a Church Festival.NPNF2-14: p. 473
[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.xv.iv.iv.lxi.html
]

Documented celebrations of the festival in the West

Readers should be aware that the East and the West were not
isolated from each other. Even before Polycarp's martyrdom, he and
others before him had traveled to Rome. And others from the West had
traveled to places in the East. We find documents from Rome that the
annual celebration of an All Saint's day which was widespread in the
East was also the practice in Rome and the West.

Pope Boniface IV in AD 610

All Saints Day commemoration celebrated May 13 at the
dedication of Sancta Maria ad Martyres

There was also liturgical contact between Rome and
England. Under Boniface IV, Mellitus, the first Bishop of London,
went to Rome "to consult the pope on important matters relative
to the newly established English Church" Bede, H. E.,
II, iv.]

Standardizing the Date in the Western Church

While an annual celebration of All Saints was widespread
throughout the east and the west from very early, the dates chosen
for this festival differed. The documentary evidence we have shows a
movement as early, and possibly before AD 740 to celebrate the
festival on November 1.

Pope Gregory III, died AD 741

Gregory dedicated a chapel in Saint Peter’s, Rome, for
the relics “of the holy apostles and of all saints, martyrs and
confessors, of all the just made perfect who are at rest throughout
the world.”

All Saints' Day is included in the Anglican Book of
Common Prayer, from 1549.

Note:

Footnote 1: Ironically,
the parallel to this example is very close. Wicca and NeoPaganism is
a mid-20th century invention, having no demonstrable
historical ties to any ancient or medieval pagan religions—but
having very clearly demonstrable origins through the writings and
works of people like Eliphas Levy, Alistair Crowley, Gerald
Gardiner, Robert Cochrane, Doreen Valiente, Margaret Murray,
Alexander Sander, Zusana Budapest, Starhawk, the Buckleys, Margo
Adler, and many others.